When the apostle wished to speak of `the whole body' in Ephesians 4:16 he uses

pas with the article, but when he wishes to speak of `every joint' in the same

verse, he omits the article.  There can be no doubt but that the true

translation of Ephesians 3:15 is `every family'.  Having arrived so far, we have

by no means attained to the intention or significance of the term.  What does

every family in heaven and earth mean?  If we attempt to deal with these words

as they stand we shall probably spend our strength for nought.  The first step

in interpreting their meaning is to recognize their relationship with the

context. The complete passage is:

`Of whom every family in heaven and earth is named'.

Cunnington, The Twentieth Century N.T., Dean Armitage Robinson and others seem

to have realized the apostle's intent here, rendering the passage:

`I bow my knees unto the Father pater (from whom all fatherhood patria in

heaven and earth takes its name) that He may grant etc.'.

The translation `fatherhood' is suggestive, and the parenthesis enlightening.

Our attention is not directed to `every family' in such a way that would justify

a lengthy disquisition (a long or elaborate treatise) as to how far angels,

principalities and powers are members of a `family' or not, but taking it for

granted that there are both in heaven and on earth `families' or `fatherhoods'

then says the apostle, let it be remembered, they all take their `name and

nature' (as Moffatt puts it) from God the Father Himself.  This may not be so

immediately apparent to us as it would be to anyone acquainted with Biblical

usage.  To us, the word `family' does not necessarily emphasize the word

`father'.  Indeed, the English word `family' passes by both father and mother,

and speaks of the famulus or the familiar the servant as the one that gives the

family its name.  In the Hebrew, the family is always associated with the

father, and all genealogies are traced through the male line `remembering' the

father and `forgetting' in this connection the mother, so much so, that one

Hebrew word for `man' zakar means `to remember' and one Hebrew word for `woman'

nashim means `to forget'.

`Every Fatherhood'.  Now, perhaps we can appreciate the strange fact that

the first occurrence of this term in the Old Testament has to do with

`everything after its kind' even though the subject be such lowly creatures as

`creeping things'.  Perhaps we can appreciate the emphatic distinction between

the Canaanites and the seed of Abraham, and possibly we shall find our thoughts

irresistibly turned to the words of John's Gospel, where the Saviour Himself

speaks of two `Fathers' and completely divides them from one another:

`Abraham is our father.  Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's

children, ye would do the works of Abraham ... Ye do the deeds of your

father ... Ye are of your father the devil' (John 8:39-44).

If every patria -- fatherhood of spirits, fatherhood among men, the Genus of

every species and kind that walks, flies or crawls is named after this great

characteristic of God, then it follows that even though `The Father' is the

great revelation of the New Testament since the advent of His Son, yet, such was

His intrinsic character and all comprehending title `from the beginning'.  Both

Creation and Redemption bear a different aspect when seen in the light of God as

the Father, and the various headships as that of Adam, Noah and Abraham, as well

as `the fathers' who form an integral part of Israel's prerogatives and

blessings (Rom. 9:3,4), all derive and all point upward to Him from Whom every

patria in heaven and earth is named.  In that day everything that lives will